+ 0 - 0 | § ¶Good news
Alex had the dilation of the stricture in his esophagus today. They stretched the tight area out a bit today, as part of a series of stretchings. This was really needed, because after the stretchings, after a while, the stricture closes up again a bit, and the last couple of days have been pretty bad, as he's been having trouble swallowing his secretions. But after they stretch things out again, the problem pretty much disappears for a while.The real good news is that after the dilation, they did a leak test, and Alex passed with no leak! That means that we get to start trying to feed him normally in small bits. It may be a long hard road to getting him to eat normally, though. He's got to relearn all the reflexes that he may have forgotten.
Oh, and as of last tuesday, Alex weighed 9 pounds, 10 ounces.
+ 0 - 0 | § ¶Our week of doctor's visits
Today started the doctor's visit week. For our family, we have doctor's appointments every day this week, except thursday. The ones of interest to you guys being a regular pediatrician appointment tomorrow morning, and on Thursday, Alex has another dilation of his esophagael stricture planned. If the dilation goes smoothly, they will plan another leak test, to see if we can start modifying Alex's feeding patterns, to see if he can swallow correctly, or perhaps to see if he's going to have a problem with reflux.
In the meanwhile, things have been going more or less smoothly, with only minor difficulties, but they are the sort of thing that normal parents deal with, like changing sleep schedules, crankyness, etc. Those are all problems that we're happy to deal with though.